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Thirteen Lies We Tell Black Children


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I read this somewhere...is this really the truth?
 
Thirteen Lies We Tell Black Children
1)    Black parents and adults can protect you in the world.
2)     Go to school, get a good education and you will get a good job and live a happy life.
3)     Do not commit a crime and you won't have to deal with the police.
4)     Get a good job, save your money and you will be economically successful.
5)     Others are responsible for your health.
6)     Take pride in your house and community and the housing values will go up.
7)     If things are not going well in your community, it's the parent's and adult's fault.
8)     There is a job for everyone who wants one in America.
9)     The media just reports the news, they don't "make" the news.
10)    Your reward will come after this life, not during this life.
11)     If you do not vote, you are responsible for your plight.
12)     In America, all people are equal.
13)     Segregation of the races and slavery is over.
 
Thirteen Truths We Don't Tell Black Children
1)     You must be self-reliant and depend on yourself and your family.
2)     Expect and prepare to have contact with police.
3)     Listen to and respect your parents and other concerned adults in your life.
4)     Create a job for yourself and for others in your community.
5)     Be responsible for your health, and you have a better chance for a good outcome.
6)     Learn to succeed in life in spite of your education in schools.
7)     Value your culture and your racial history.
8)     Young men must respect young women and vice versa.
9)     Elders and seniors in the family and community must be revered.
10)    Become financially literate and understand how money works.
11)     Help promote, rebuild and invest in Black families and communities.
12)      Young Black men and women must always give maximum effort!
13)       Believe in a greater, higher power or universal source beyond you. 
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As Sean Puffy Combs would say:  Yeah...I like this right here...Bad Bo

Too bad you had to ruin it with another one of your open ended semi-rhetorical questions....lol.

I've heard "Lies": 2, 3, 6, 8, 11 quite a bit growing up.

Not from my own parents, but from a few older Black adults in my neighborhood.
And I wouldn't call them complete lies, but they aren't entirely grounded in reality either.
They tend to teeter back and forth between being false and true depending on the context as well as a proper undertanding of what the adult was trying to tell you.

I don't know a Black man in America who hasn't had atleast one negative encounter with the police.
However how you carry yourself and how you interact with the police has a major influence on your relationship with the criminal justice system.  Old Black men who knew told you to remember that that police officer has power in the street.....so if you have a problem with him, save it until you get in the court room. 
The older I get the more I realize how much so many of the older Black men and women knew what they were talking about because experience and observation fleshed out advice they may not have articulated so well.



BTW, I wouldn't called #10 a lie.
Perhaps we may not necessarily KNOW where we get our full reward, but to call it a lie implies that the author knows for sure there's nothing waiting on the other side.

 

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These caveats are reminiscent of the advice Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote in the book "Between The World  and Me", a letter to his son, counsel he didn't closely follow himself, but still managed to become rich and successful.   

To me, the idea that parents should adhere to a list of  26 dos and don'ts when it comes to raising children is a bit much.  For one thing, what works with one child doesn't always work with another, and subjecting your kids to a stringent regimen of rules to live by is unrealistic.   Flexibility should be exercised and they should be given some slack so they can learn from their mistakes and absorb the learning experience that comes with the trial and error process.    
Providing a stable loving home, setting boundaries and guidelines, relying on your instincts and using your good judgment  is all parents can do without stifling their children.  IMO.   

 

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